You undoubtedly drafted a business plan when you started off your operation. Undoubtedly, you considered expanding in the future as part of this plan. You need to revisit those plans and take action, now!

The best time to think about expanding your business is before it actually happens. Then, you can put your plan into action much more quickly and seamlessly. Part of expanding is outsourcing.

Now you are ready for a VA team. No longer are you just a one-man or one-woman operation, as you have thankfully grown too large for this. To keep moving upward, you’ll need others to make it happen. Take action on this today and here are a few thoughts to help you:

Choosing your Team

The team will be comprised mostly of other virtual assistants. These aren’t just any virtual assistants – they think like you do and have a similar work ethic. Just like your clients did with you, you’ll want to do some research and interviewing to find just the right people.

You may have already thought about what jobs you will outsource. Keeping it simple is a good way to start until you get a feel for how the team will work together. The interview process is just the first task. Keep in mind that you may want to outsource more delicate matters later. Look for a variety of skills in the people that you choose for your team. The more diverse they are, the more valuable they will be to you.

Starting off the Right Way

Get all of your ducks in a row from the beginning. This includes contracts, agreements and instructions. Each virtual assistant will need a contract that spells out, but is not limited to: pay per hour, pay schedule, job description. You must have agreements with your subcontracting virtual assistants which talk about noncompete clauses and confidentiality agreements. You don’t want to be fleeced for your client list right under your nose.

Written instructions about how to do what you ask avoids as many mistakes as possible later. Of course your subcontractors will know how to write, but will they know how to write in the style that your client requires? Remember that the client is always right, here. And to take advantage of this quickly, seriously consider taking on someone looking to become a virtual assistant, or even a team looking to become a virtual assistant business, to maximise your efforts in a very short span of time, at a really great price!

Crossing all the Ts

One “T” in particular is taxes. You are not just responsible for yourself but others who work for you. When you hire subcontractors, they work for you on a freelance basis. Make sure that this is clearly spelled out in your legal contracts with your virtual assistants. As a subcontractor, they will be responsible for their own taxes and insurance. In the United States, you will be responsible for a 1099-MISC form, within which you will tell them what you have paid them and they will in turn file this with their tax return.

The cost of subcontracting will figure into your hourly or per project rate for your clients. The last thing you want to do is undercut yourself because you are paying your contractors more than you are getting paid yourself.

Planning ahead for business growth will make you healthy, wealthy and wise.

Tags: internet marketing, online business

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 16th, 2011 at 6:29 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.